The response from the last chapter was so thoughtful and kind of amazing that it inspired me to hop right back on. (Also, what else is there to do when you're buried in two feet of snow?) You guys are kind of amazing, and you've made the experience of writing this story that much more rewarding. So thank you, and as always, your feedback is gratefully received.
Maybe it was the steady surge of adrenaline coursing through her. body Or it might have been the overwhelming sense of relief that no one had been hurt in the fire—not her friends working at the restaurant or any of the patrons. But from the moment she and Regina had left the house and headed to the waterfront to the gravesite of her dream, Emma had been stoic, her face taut and impassive.
It was quiet on the way there. Somehow Emma had expected sirens, even though the four-alarm blaze had long since been doused. For Regina, the quiet was unbearable, and her eyes pricked with hot, angry tears that pushed out onto her cheeks. But Emma looked straight ahead, unwavering as her girlfriend drove, her mind resolved to the idea that something like this was eventually going to happen because she had long since exceeded her quota of good fortune.
When they pulled into the parking lot, four firetrucks and six police car initially obscured their vision, but when they got close enough to see the building, Regina let out an audible gasp, her knuckles white at the steering wheel.
The fire had apparently taken place during the night and burned for hours before the flames grew high enough to see from a nearby residential neighborhood. Saviors had initially been a waterfront warehouse, so it was fairly isolated from the rest of Storybrooke. By the time firefighters got there in the middle of the night, the building had been completely ravaged. And even though the flames had long been extinguished by the time Emma and Regina arrived, a dozen or so police officers and firefighters remained there, presumably to secure the area and gather evidence and determine the cause of the blaze.
She moved to get out of the car, but Emma's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, steadying her for a moment. Regina looked over, finding her eyes for the first time. She searched for that warm, familiar expression she'd come to rely on, but it was clouded over with an unknowable expression that made Regina's stomach churn uncomfortably.
"Just—I need just one second. I…okay?"
"Yes, of course," Regina murmured, low and sad. "Whatever you need, Emma."
Emma was quiet for a minute, and Regina thought they might sit there in silence indefinitely, watching a few firefighters spray some embers around the corpse of a building,
"They warned me," Emma said. "They said I should rip out the guts of the place and rewire because the building was so old and not suited for something like this. But I was so anxious to get it up and running, and my budget was so limited, I used most of my money for making it look, you know, great, that I—"
Regina pulled at Emma's hands, looking at her intently with fierce brown eyes.
"—Whatever happens from here on, do not forget two things. This was not your fault. Do you hear me?" Regina said with grim determination. "And the second thing is that we are a team, and we will get through this together."
Emma nodded robotically. Regina scampered out of the car and opened Emma's door. The two of them walked toward the front of the building, stepping over the "S" and "A" of the Saviors sign as they made their way. One of the firemen, a tall man with a shadow of a beard and soot-covered helmet approached them.
"Ma'am? Do you belong here? Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm Emma Swan, the owner of this restaurant," Emma said quietly, the phrase she'd said so many times with pride now wrung of all emotion.
"I see. Well, I'm the fire chief. You can call me Robin," he said, jutting out his hand in greeting. "I'm sorry about the state of things. We did our best, but the call came too late I'm afraid."
Emma shook his hand and nodded solemnly.
"I'm sure you did everything you could, so thank you."
Regina took a step toward the fire chief.
"Robin, do you have any leads at this time? Because Emma has received threats," she said sternly.
"Well, we know the fire originated in the wood-fired grill, up and around the duct work," Robin said flatly. "Unfortunately, the building, as you know, is over 100 years old, so it just couldn't hold up in a sustained fire of this magnitude. But I understand you had quite the business going here, so I'm terribly sorry we couldn't salvage it. But since it happened in the middle of the night, no one was hurt, so that's a blessing."
Regina looked over at Emma, trying to gauge whether she should press further, but she was again unreadable. And they needed answers.
"Is there any sign of arson?" Regina asked.
"Honestly, no, at least not at first glance. But I'm not ruling it out. We'll obviously need to do some more questioning, and we'll need a statement from you, Miss Swan, but with a building this old, just a fire burning oven left on too long could do the trick."
Emma's head shot up, and she shook her head emphatically, her eyes sparking with anger. It was the first time Regina had seen her register real emotion since they left the house.
"I'm sure that wasn't the case," Emma said. "My staff is pretty meticulous about that kind of stuff."
Robin nodded, but Regina thought she saw a shadow cross his face.
"I'm sure this is too much for you to get your brain around, so we don't have to do this now," he said.
"No. It's fine," Emma said, her jaw steeled and her face once again impassive. "Ask me whatever you need to."
He pulled out a notepad from his back pocket.
"You said you've received threats? Can you offer specific names and instances? Anything you can tell me could help us figure out what happened here?"
"Ok. I understand," Emma started. "Well it's just been from one person, the threat, I mean. And there was really just one specific incident. After his restaurant first opened, Regina wrote a review of his place that wasn't entirely favorable, and a few days later he came into Saviors. I'm not sure how he knew we were together, but he came into my office and basically told me that if she didn't retract her review, he would make our relationship public and make it seem like the whole thing was fixed. Like Regina had purposely given him a scathing review to prop up Saviors," Emma said, pinching the bridge of her nose in disgust. "But honestly, he never threatened to do anything to the restaurant specifically, and I haven't really heard anything from him all those months ago."
"Yes, but he's a known scoundrel," Regina said, jumping in to keep Emma from letting him off the hook. "He's been associated with this kind of thing at some of his other restaurants. There was one competitor whose restaurant was infested with rodents just weeks after the inspectors had given the place a clean bill of health. He's a creep and a weasel, and he'll do anything to win."
Robin, who had been jotting down notes as they spoke, lifted his head to see if they were through.
"Ok, I have Mr. Gold's information—another one of your associates, Ruby, provided me with a similar account. I will certainly give all this information to the police, and they will look at that as a legitimate lead. Emma, we'll need to know about your insurance policy on the restaurant, and I'll need your whereabouts for last night recorded as well, although it is my understanding you were here until 8 p.m. and then you went home. Regina, can you vouch for Emma last night?"
"Yes, and my son Henry was with us last night as well. If you need further proof, I'm quite certain we can provide it," Regina said, her voice unwavering. She pulled a business card from her purse and handed it to Robin. "As far as the insurance policy, my attorney can provide me with all the information you need. We were looking into upgrading the policy, but unfortunately we have not yet moved forward with that decision, so the policy is quite basic at this point."
"I see. Thank you, Miss Mills. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Not at this time, but we will obviously be available for anything you need as the investigation continues. And I'm sure Emma and I will have questions in the coming days."
"Of course, and don't hesitate to call me. Here's my card with my direct number. Thank you both," Robin said, turning to leave.
Then he stopped in his tracks and called to Emma over his shoulder.
"Even dreams can be rebuilt, Miss Swan," he said before continuing toward one of the trucks.
Regina watched Emma walk like a shadow through the remains of the restaurant, taking in the blackened walls of the dining room, the overturned and demolished furniture, much of which she'd made with her own hands. Her fingertips grazed every available surface, as if Emma's eyes weren't enough to prove that what she was seeing was real. It wasn't until she crouched to pick up the shattered picture of August, Ruby, and Emma clinking glasses that Regina simply couldn't keep the emotions inside.
Watching her girlfriend bent over one of the most meaningful relics of her dream was just too much to bear. Her shoulders shook, and tears streamed down her face, carving southern lines through the soot on her face. She kept her distance to let Emma mourn, but she let herself cry.
Emma pulled the picture from the frame and curled it up like a poster, clutching it in her hand. She headed into what was left of the kitchen, the room scattered with blackened pans and cutlery, scorched appliances cracked and angry along the battered walls. From the doorway, Regina looked on as Emma peered around, her eyes unfocused and glassy. She thought she saw her sway on her feet, but she held her ground. She knew Emma needed her space right now.
Finally, after long, empty minutes surveying the wreckage, Emma left the building, having just taken the one photo, and came to a stop about 20 feet away. Regina followed and watched as Emma pulled her phone from her pocket, turned on the camera app, and snapped a picture of her demolished restaurant. She waited then, and Regina moved toward her, lacing their hands together and pulling her gently to the car. She opened the passenger door, helped her soot-covered girlfriend inside, and closed it gently. She got in the driver's side and drove them home in tense, painful silence.
Regina wished she knew what Emma was thinking. She hadn't spoken a word since they gave the information to Robin. Of the two of them, Emma had basically worn her heart on her sleeve since they met, so Regina ached to know what was happening in her mind now behind the dispassionate veneer. After they got home, Emma headed up the stairs without a word, and then Regina heard the shower turn on. But that was nearly 30 minutes ago, and she could still hear the water running. She made the decision then that, while she wanted to give her space, she needed to make sure Emma knew she was there and wasn't going anywhere.
Feeling a surge of determination, she gathered her courage, climbed the stairs, and headed into the master bedroom. She walked barefoot over to the bathroom door and opened it as quietly as she could and called Emma's name so she wouldn't startle her. But there was no answer.
Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest, although she wasn't sure exactly why. She suddenly found herself rushing toward the shower stall and thrusting open the door, desperate to know what was happening.
Emma stood there, blankly staring at the wall, not even looking up when Regina appeared inside. She reached out a hand to grab Emma's wrist, and it was ice cold. Emma was standing under a steady stream of freezing cold water practically catatonic, apparently so lost in her mind that didn't even register when the temperature changed.
"Jesus, Emma, you're going to freeze to death," she said, moving into the shower fully dressed without a thought. She put her arms around Emma's naked body and held her, using her free hand to turn off the water. She reached up and put both hands on Emma's cheeks, pulling her firmly toward her own face. "Look at me, dammit! Let me see you, Emma."
Emma's eyes finally shifted in Regina's direction.
"Come on. Let me get you warm," she said, trying to pull Emma out of the shower. But she wouldn't budge. Regina turned to get a towel, but Emma's arms finally came to life, and she held Regina in a death grip and began to shake and shiver and sob. Her body was taut with cold and pain as her senses finally awoke, and she clutched the brunette's shirt as she emptied her sadness into Regina's shoulder.
"I lost it all. Everything. It's... it's all gone," Emma whispered.
Regina's blood went cold at her words, her own fears and insecurities coating her body with an icy glaze. But she pushed past her own hurt and spoke the only words that came to her mind.
"Not everything, Emma. You have me," Regina said, feeling fully exposed even though she was the one still clothed.
Emma cried harder at that, but she pulled back to look at Regina.
"Do I? You won't leave me, not even after this? You knew this would happen, and now it did. And today, this whole time, I was looking at the rubble, and I'm broken hearted about the restaurant, but all I could think is that now I could lose you, too. That this could break us," Emma said, her words broken and choppy. "I can live without the restaurant. But I don't think I can handle losing you, too."
Regina pushed cold, wet strands of hair out of Emma's face and pushed the water and tears away from her cheeks. She pulled her out of the shower and wrapped her tightly in a fluffy blue towel. Then she took off her own clothes and wrapped a towel around her own body, walking them into the bedroom and pulling the comforter off the bed. She settled them on the floor and wrapped the blanket around them and looked directly at Emma.
"Emma, I know the last few hours have been some of the most painful hours of your life. But six hours ago, you asked me to marry you, to be with you forever. Did you mean it?"
"Yes, with everything in my heart, but—"
Regina smiled and pushed a finger in front of her lips. She reached under the bed and pulled out a small red box. She pulled Emma's hand from her lap and placed the box in her palm.
"I could have killed you this morning for stealing my thunder," Regina said, a small smile creeping across her face as she watched a torrent of emotion finally crack Emma's sadness and worry that had been there for hours. Emma's green eyes softened and widened, lit with genuine surprise and joy. Regina opened the box in Emma's palm and pulled out a stunning princess-cut diamond ring. She pinched it between her thumb and forefinger casually, as if it was beside the point.
"Yes, it's true, and I can't deny it. Months ago this would have sent me running for the hills, and I understand why you're afraid. I'm afraid too. But you, your determination—lets be real, your stubbornness—has changed everything. You never gave up on me, not even when I did. And now, now that you've won me over completely, made me love you with everything I am, I'm not about to walk away now. And I never will. I want this more than life, and that will never change. There's no fire big enough or disaster horrible enough or villain despicable enough to make me leave you or to make me stop loving you."
She took a moment to read Emma's expression and wipe a few stray tears that spilled down her face.
"Marry me, Emma. Marry me, and we can chalk what happened today up to a 'for worse,' knowing that so much 'for better' is around the corner. Marry me, and let me just fucking love you forever. Ok?"
For a moment, Emma didn't speak, but then the genuine face-splitting smile Regina had come to know so well began to blossom.
"You bitch. You just had to have the better proposal, didn't you?" Emma said with a warm laugh, launching herself at Regina. She kissed her soundly, slowly, disappearing the chasm of uncertainty that had grown from the heartbreak of the day. She slipped a tongue into her mouth draped her arms around her neck, pulling her in closer, tighter, more soundly. She pulled back and looked at the fingers that casually held the ring.
"Well?" Regina said playfully. "What's it going to be Swan?"
"Hell, yes, Mills."